MX2014003013A - Portable electronic braille reader. - Google Patents

Abstract

A portable electronic Braille reader which comprises a capacitive screen to which information is input via an input port or any other suitable means, which information is decoded and coded by a microprocessor in order to convert said information into Braille characters; a thimble which includes elements capable of generating a stimulus in the reader's finger so that the reader recognizes the characters represented on the screen, and guide lines for ensuring that the thimble slides in the correct direction and on the correct trajectories during reading.

Description

BRAILLE PORTABLE ELECTRONIC READER Field of Invention The invention relates to electronic readers, and more particularly to a portable electronic Braille reader that allows people with visual or blind disabilities to "read" any printed material that is incorporated into said reader through any known or known means of communication.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The Spanish patent ES 2 202 570 describes a portable reading device for the blind that integrates optical sensors capable of processing a printed text, an electronic system that stores the adapted software to recognize the printed characters, as well as the conversion software of said characters in Braille characters, a tactile recognition zone and a microcapsule fixed to a cover in which the tip of the index finger of the blind person is introduced as a thimble. The microcapsule contains a matrix of optical sensors equipped with a lens and an electromagnetic unit designed to visualize in Braille character by character on a tactile surface, as soon as the index finger of the blind person moves on a printed character and when the finger is exactly about that character. Said electromagnetic unit integrates six magnets destined to reproduce the Braille characters and two others destined to indicate to the reader an error in the direction; the latter are activated in case the blind person deflects the index finger up or down in its movement along a line of text.

A difference that exists between the reading device of the aforementioned Spanish patent and the new reader, is that it does not use an optical character recognition (OCR) procedure for enter the reading device the text you want to make available to the blind. In the new reader, the information that is going to be loaded are electronic files that are converted to Braille text. Accordingly, the reader of the present invention does not require optical sensors, nor the associated software for that recognition procedure, but, as will be described later, the entry of information into the new reader can be done through storage means. of information (USB memory, CD, DVD) or through the internet. Logically, this last procedure is much more versatile, reliable and expeditious than the use of optical sensors.

Another important difference between the Spanish patent and the new reader is that the reading device does not count. with a receptive screen, while the new reader does. Another substantial difference is that the new reader has the ability to receive WiFi information in the future, while the Spanish patent device does not.

Another obvious difference is that the cell in the Braille thimble of the new reader can be driven by electromagnets or by so-called "muscle wires". Because the source of the text are electronic files, the new reader does not present the problem of the Spanish patent on how it reads text of different size or what is the distance between the text and the thimble.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The main object of the invention is to propose a new portable electronic Braille reader which is characterized in that it comprises a capacitive screen, which consists of a screen that by means of a direct touch on its surface allows the entry of data and orders to the portable electronic reader; the information for reading is entered into said screen through an entry port or any other suitable means. This information is decoded and encoded by a microprocessor to convert it into Braille alphabet characters that can be recognized by a thimble that is placed on the index finger of a blind person, which for this includes a braille cell with elements capable of generating a stimulus on the reader's finger so that it can recognize the Braille characters that would correspond to certain positions on the screen; and a line guide to ensure that the thimble slides in the correct direction and trajectories during the reading.

The capacitive screen makes when the reader presses in an X coordinate, and this one sends a signal to the thimble and indicates that the Braille cell must raise and lower the points of the cell to form a letter. When traversing a position to the right X + 1, Y, the screen sends electronic impulses to inform that in that position it corresponds to another letter in Braille, which makes the thimble raise or lower the points of the braille cell to form the new letter of that position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES OF THE INVENTION Figure 1 is a schematic view showing the main components of the portable electronic braille reader of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a view of the capacitive screen of the reader in which the information previously stored in it for reading is contained.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the thimble which is an essential element of the reader of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a view showing the components of the braille cell that is housed in the thimble of the electronic reader.

Figure 5 shows the relationship between the capacitive screen and the thimble of the electronic braille reader.

Figure 6 shows how the thimble has a notch that prevents it from being positioned on the receptive screen if it is not aligned with the lower guide. This way, it is ensured that at the beginning of the reading, the person always has the portable electronic Braille reader in the correct direction.

Figure 7 is illustrative of the system guides that are used to keep the electronic reader without leaving the line that is being read.

Figure 8 is an exemplary model of an embodiment of the assembled portable electronic braille reader of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITY OF THE INVENTION An electronic braille reader for blind people to have access to printed material, such as books, magazines and newspapers, which allows the blind to read a whole page in Braille. The reading device of the present invention is portable and by accessing the internet or inserting a USB, a CD or DVD, or any other known or unknown format, is loaded with files that are decoded for reading.

The main parts that integrate the electronic reader (100) are: • Superior Housing (10) • Lower housing (20) · Battery (30) • USB connector (40) • Microprocessor (PCBA) (50) • Action Buttons (60, 62, 64) • Capacitive screen (70) · Thimble (80) • Line Guide (90) In figure 1, the electronic reading device (100) is shown in a disassembled condition to clearly show the main elements that make it up, where the lower housing (20) and the upper housing (10) are intended to provide protection and union to the USB connector (40), the action buttons (60), the microprocessor (50), which can be a printed circuit board PCBA, the capacitive screen (70), the battery (30) and the line guide (90) ). The capacitive screen can be like that used by other devices commonly known as "touch screen", for example, the iPad or iPhones, in which certain commands are executed by a direct touch on the surface of the screen.

The power source of the electronic reader (100) can be a rechargeable lithium-iron-phosphate battery (30) among whose advantages over those of lithium-phosphate (commonly used in cell phones and laptops) is that they are not toxic to the environment, they do not explode, they do not corrode or they suffer affectations by high fluctuations in the environmental temperature and have a useful life of 5 to 6 years.

The USB connector (40) is the entry port of the information to which the blind person will have access. Said information is received by the USB connector (40) and taken to the printed circuit board (PCBA) (50) to be decoded. The PCBA will be adapted to control the functions of the reader. Powered by the battery (30), the PCBA receives the files from the USB connector (40), decodes them and encodes them so that they can be read by the capacitive screen (70). The PCBA (50) also receives the signals coming from the action buttons (60, 62, 64), which allows to turn the electronic reader on / off (100) and to advance / return pages. The source file that is entered into the reading device can be in a txt, doc, pdf format or any other format. That source file comes through the USB port, and specially developed software, which is built into the processor, translates each letter of the entered text to a specific coordinate on the screen (70).

The capacitive screen (70) is a touch screen (Fig. 2) that by a direct touch on its surface allows the entry of data and commands to the portable electronic reader. Once the information coming from the PCBA is received, the capacitive screen (70) will contain the information equivalent to a written page. The thimble (80) is connected to the electronic card (PCBA), and by placing said thimble on a certain point of the capacitive screen, it recognizes the coordinate in which the thimble (80) was positioned and determines which Braille character corresponds to that coordinate in particular and sends a signal to the thimble to raise and lower the points of the Braille cell that must -correspondientes. Each character that the words form is associated with an X, Y coordinate on the screen. The screen shows nothing, it is blank. - The screen what it does is that when the reader presses on the X coordinate, Y, it will send a signal to the thimble and will indicate that the Braille cell must go up and down the points of the cell to form a letter. When traversing a position to the right X + 1, Y, the screen sends electronic impulses to inform that in that location it corresponds to another letter in Braille, which causes the thimble to raise and lower the points of the Braille cell to form the new letter of said next position on the screen.

Another component of the portable electronic Braille reader is the thimble (80), shown by way of example in Figure 3, which is a piece that is placed on the fingertip of the index finger of the blind and which is adapted to be attached to the finger by any appropriate means The thimble (80) is operatively connected to the PCBA (50) by a cable that allows it to receive signals from it. It will be understood that It is also possible to implement what is necessary so that the connection between the thimble (80) and the PCBA (50) is wireless.

Figure 4 shows a braille cell that is housed in the thimble, which consists of a set of electromagnets (85) that are placed in an arrangement of two columns of three electromagnets each. Each electromagnet (85) is housed in its center, an iron cylinder (88) of approximately 1.5 mm in diameter, which when subjected to the electromagnetic force of the electromagnets can rise, from its initial resting position, a height of approximately 0.5 mm.

The electromagnets (85) work independently of each other, so that the combination of raising and holding down the cylinders (88) allows the characters of the Braille alphabet to be created according to the information entered into the reader for reading.

By placing the thimble (80) on a specific point of the capacitive screen, it detects its position in relation to XY coordinates and sends the signal so that the thimble, which contains the braille cell inside, lift the equivalent points to the letter corresponding to that position on the screen. A Braille cell consists of six or eight points, which allow braille characters to be displayed. Points, unlike printed braille, can alternate between the up and down positions, so they can vary dynamically.

Figure 5 is a representation showing the use of the electronic reader (100), in which it is observed how the thimble (80) is placed on the receptive screen and slides sideways as it is reading the information that has previously been entered the reader. In order to preserve a linear trajectory of the thimble during the sliding of the thimble through the lines of the screen, a line guide (90) is provided consisting of a grid that is placed on the capacitive screen (70). By means of the line guide (90) the reader is indicated blind the correct address of the page and ensures that it does not leave the line that is being read.

The line guide (90) consists of an upper guide (92) and a lower guide (94) that jointly define a path or passage through which the thimble (80) is slid as the reading is read out. information contained in the capacitive screen. The thimble (80) has a notch or recessed section (88) which prevents the thimble from being positioned on the receptive screen if it is not aligned with the complementary recessed surface (95) provided in the lower guide (94). In this way, it is ensured that to start the reading, the user always has the electronic reader in the correct position and therefore in the correct reading direction.

Another function of the guide (90) is to keep the reader without leaving the line he is reading. The upper guide (92) and the lower guide (94) · delimit the path, from one end of the screen to the other, that the reader must follow during the reading. Once the reader has finished traversing a line, it is necessary to place the thimble (80) on the left edge of the bottom line, and so on until all the lines of the page are traversed (Fig. 7).

As seen in Figure 5, the cylinders (86) inserted in the electromagnets (85), adapted to move up and down, have a different elevation relation to each other as a result of the electromagnetic force exerted on them due to the character in Braille, which corresponds to a certain position of the screen (70), which depends on the information entered into the electronic reader. In this way, the reader will be able to perceive on his index finger the character or literal that is located in that particular position of the screen.

Once all the lines of the receptive screen (70) have been scanned, the blind reader presses the action button (64) provided on the screen. electronic reader device (100) to advance to the next page. The PCBA (50) receives the respective command and provides the new information to said screen so that it can be read by the user. At the same time, the reader places the thimble on the left edge of the first line and repeats the line-crossing operation he carried out on the previous page. In the event that the user has a doubt about previously read contents, he can press the action button (62) to return the page and the PCBA (50) will provide the receptive screen with the information previously accessed.

Figure 8 shows an exemplary model already assembled from the portable electronic reader (100), previously described Braille. It will be understood that the reader's realization may be similar or different from the one illustrated in said figure and that this would not imply that it departs from the structural and functional concept that has been described here before.

Although the invention has been described in the context of preferred embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the scope of the concept extends beyond the specifically described model to other possible embodiments of the invention that are obvious and deductible to from the content of the preceding description. Furthermore, although the invention has been described in detail, any expert in the field to which the invention pertains may infer that some of the indicated components may be replaced by different or analogous ones.

In view of the foregoing, it will be understood that one or more of the main or secondary elements of the electronic reader can be combined with others or replaced by others for the formation of a reader of the characteristics previously described. Accordingly, it is intended that the scope of the present invention not be interpreted in terms of the particularly described embodiments, but rather that determined by a reasonable interpretation of the content of the following claims.

It is noted that the best method to carry out the present invention is that which is inferred from the content of the foregoing description.

Claims (10)

1. - Braille portable electronic reader, which includes: - a protective casing within which it is contained: a) a capacitive screen capable of receiving and storing information through any appropriate means and making it available to a blind person for reading in Braille; In addition, said screen is adapted to enter data or orders by a touch; b) a means for entering information to the electronic reader; * c) a microprocessor to decode the information that is entered into the reader and encode it so that it can be read by the capacitive screen; d) action buttons through which certain signals are sent to the microprocessor to turn the electronic reader on / off and forward / return pages; e) a means of supplying energy to provide the reader with energy; f) a line guide to ensure that the thimble slides over the lines in the correct direction and follows a linear path from one end of the screen to the other; - a thimble connected to the microprocessor and adapted to be slid on the capacitive screen to allow a user that carries it to perceive the representative characters of the decoded and encoded information previously entered into the reader; said thimble includes a braille cell comprising magnetic elements that generate an electromagnetic force, and that each has a cylinder inserted therein, which can be raised, independently of one another, to allow to perceive the blind, in a specific position of the thimble on the capacitive screen, a certain braille character.

2. - The electronic reader of claim 1, wherein the line guide extends from one end of the screen to the other following the path of a reading line.

3. - The electronic reader of claim 1, wherein the thimble and the line guide are configured to be coupled in a complementary manner by which the correct positioning of said thimble on the receptive screen is ensured. ,

4 - . 4 - The electronic reader of claim 1, wherein the line guide consists of a grid that is placed on the capacitive screen to define the trajectories that the thimble should follow during the reading process.

5. - The electronic reader of claim 1, wherein the means for entering the information to the reader is a port of entry.

6. - The electronic reader of claim 1, wherein the information is entered into the reader by means of a USB, a CD, a DVD or any other means of storage of computer-readable information.

7. - The electronic reader of claim 1, wherein the reading information is entered into the reader by downloading it from the internet.

8. The electronic reader of claim 1, wherein the line guide and the thim together define a means for ensuring that said thimble is correctly placed on the receptive screen.

9. - The electronic reader of claim 1, wherein the communication between the microprocessor and the thimble can be wired or wireless.

10. - The electronic reader of claim 1, wherein each character formed by the words is associated with an X, Y coordinate on the screen.